I have literally no idea if there is a dump in the city, or where. It's funny how different this stuff is when you don't live in a house in the suburbs. I mean, it's not like my garbage or recycling has been picked up by the city ever in any location I've ever lived after moving out of my parents' house.

Warren wrote:Take a serious look at the stuff you're considering donating. I know you think "it's perfectly fine" because you were just using it yourself. But getting stuff that's not on good condition is a PITA for Good Will etc.

Not only that, but if it's currently out of style, no one, and I mean no one will take it. 90% of the furniture from my inlaws' estate went to the dump because it was purchased in the 50s & 60s and nobody wants that look anymore.

Actually, there's a whole process for this. Best stuff gets sold, unsold stuff plus less good stuff gets donated to developing countries, worst stuff gets sold to recyclers, which is cleaned, shredded and turned into stuffing.

Warren wrote:

Highway wrote:I don't want to contribute to unnecessary landfill filling... put things into the 'e-waste basket' and take that to the dump once a year.

You better check with Orville on that one Wilbur. That ainna gonna fly.

It's less about this and more about heavy metal leaching into ground water.

his voice is so soothing, but why do conspiracy nuts always sound like Batman and Robin solving one of Riddler's puzzles out loud? - fod

nicole wrote:Filled up a box with books to get rid of. Now to get rid of the box.

Thrift store or library sale donation bins are always an option, but are there any secondhand book stores where you might trade them in for a tiny amount of cash (or slightly less tiny amount of store credit)?

"Myself, despite what they say about libertarians, I think we're actually allowed to pursue options beyond futility or sucking the dicks of the powerful." -- Eric the .5b

nicole wrote:Filled up a box with books to get rid of. Now to get rid of the box.

Thrift store or library sale donation bins are always an option, but are there any secondhand book stores where you might trade them in for a tiny amount of cash (or slightly less tiny amount of store credit)?

Oh yeah, used book store is the goal. Actually doing it is like ughhhhhh though.

And to answer JD's question as well: that's not really a thing here because we have alleys. People leave stuff like furniture and whatnot out back, rather than out front. But that doesn't seem like a very good place to put a box of books. Yeah, that's definitely a NYC thing people don't do here.

I stopped at the comic shop yesterday while my landlord installed a new water heater. I ended up spending ~$200 on books, all the while fighting the voice in my head saying "every book you buy is a book you have to get rid of". Eventually of course the goal is purge all of my physical media and read my comics on a tablet. I think yesterday's trip is a definitive sign that in my mind the Purge has already begun.

Phase One is to get rid of the books that I don't want, either because they weren't very good or because I own another one in a better edition. I have already listed all of those on half.com, and some of them have moved that way. Yesterday I repriced the lot to hopefully move them a little faster. I have also started investigating other marketplace sites that are specific to comics.

Of course, no matter where I end up selling/disposing of them, Phase Zero will involve creating a comprehensive inventory of what I actually own. So today I started testing barcode scanners for my phone, hopefully one that can query and populate title/year/price/etc.

"Is a Lulztopia the best we can hope for?!?" ~Taktix®
"Somali pirates are beholden to their hostages in a way that the USG is not." ~Dangerman

Hugh, I'm curious about that sort of thing (and probably not the only one who would benefit). Please let us know what your scanner app testing indicates.

When it comes to comic books...well, the nearest store is really a wargaming shop with a respectable little selection of TPBs. I occasionally drop by, but not often. If I'm willing to take a 45-minute drive each way, I can hit a rather nice comic book store with an impressive selection, but I haven't made that trip in a few years. So, I haven't felt bad about buying my comics electronically, even if most (but not all!) vendors don't actually give you any files you can keep.

(Digital media doesn't get stuff out of my house by itself, but it slows down the flow of stuff coming in. I have six bookshelves in my study and not enough room. Staunching the flow has been my step zero.)

I like Marvel Unlimited. I've always trade-waited anyway, so nothing being fresher than six months doesn't hurt my feelings. The service has justified its cost, as I've been able read through the entire first series of Ms. Marvel and the entire Joe Kelly run of Deadpool from the 90s—something like eight inches of shelf space I don't have to worry about. Now, I just have to choose what to read next. Peter David's X-Factor run, the Walt Simonson Thor run, the entire Kid Loki storyline, etc...

Eric the .5b wrote:Hugh, I'm curious about that sort of thing (and probably not the only one who would benefit). Please let us know what your scanner app testing indicates.

I shall.

I'm on the fence about Marvel Unlimited etc. vs downloaded issues. I know everything is moving to a cloud subscription model, but I like the idea of my stuff being ordered and formatted the way I like and available even when I don't have a signal or my subscription runs out. Of course I have Netflix and love it, so who knows. That kind of thinking is still several steps away, but I'm deeply suspicious of the idea of not having my own library. The goal is just to make the library weigh a few pounds rather than taking up a fifth of my living room.

"Is a Lulztopia the best we can hope for?!?" ~Taktix®
"Somali pirates are beholden to their hostages in a way that the USG is not." ~Dangerman

Our second bedroom/home office looks a lot neater and nicer since we cleaned up and put stuff away to make it ready for houseguests. Unfortunately, this also makes it kind of useless for most other purposes, what with everything being neatly packed away.

This actually reminds me of my wife's predilection for "cleaning and organizing" the pantry closet - sure, it looks very neat and everything is in its place afterwards. Unfortunately, everything is packed in there so tightly you can't get to anything, so it's actually less functional than when it was messy...

I sort of feel like a sucker about aspiring to be intellectually rigorous when I could just go on twitter and say capitalism causes space herpes and no one will challenge me on it. - Hugh Akston

I'm in the process of cleaning out some boxes to try to pare down the perpetual boxes that just move around with me. I mean, it's 4 boxes, but that's several more than I'd like. My chemical engineering and chemistry textbooks are finally being purged since I haven't needed them in years, and it seems increasingly unlikely I'll get back into those fields. Of course, they're worth nothing since there have been multiple new editions since I used them--with the exception of my nuclear engineering textbook, which Amazon was willing to pay me $100 for (it's more than a little frightening that my textbook from 2002 still hasn't been updated and is the current edition!).

The annoying books are the ones that almost worth something. Like the paperbacks of the first and second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. They're all the Del Rey editions, and the first chronicles are various printings, but the second chronicles are all paperback first editions (covers pictured here). At under $20, they're definitely not worth dealing with eBay/paypal. The local used book store won't buy them because they're too worn. I'm not going to read them again because I have pleasant memories and I'm afraid they won't hold up. So to Goodwill they go, I guess...

getting rid of books is a pain in the ass. i'm going to try the local library but as i reconfigure my office to include a standing desk setup (of some kind, haven't figured that out yet) i have about sixty or so books i know i'm not going to read again.

"i ran over the cat and didnt stop just carried on with tears in my eyes joose driving my way to work." - God

Andrew wrote: At under $20, they're definitely not worth dealing with eBay/paypal.

Even if each individual book is worth less than $20 and thus not worth your time and trouble to sell on eBay, you could try selling them in semi-bulk, at a price that would be a good deal for the buyer but is still enough to be worth your while. And postage for "media mail" (books and other papers) is very cheap, too, despite how heavy such a package would be.

"Myself, despite what they say about libertarians, I think we're actually allowed to pursue options beyond futility or sucking the dicks of the powerful." -- Eric the .5b

Library donation is a good way to go. If they can't add them to their collections, they can at least sell them in rummage sales, which are frequented by collectors and used book dealers. At the very least they can have them remaindered and pulped.

"Is a Lulztopia the best we can hope for?!?" ~Taktix®
"Somali pirates are beholden to their hostages in a way that the USG is not." ~Dangerman